I’m often asked to speak to groups and classes of aspiring writers, and recently I was speaking to a college writing class, and I realized something that I’ve known for a long time, but I’ve never actually put into words.

Life is a constant pitch meeting.

There were a few dozen kids in this advanced class. Okay, not all kids! I talked for about forty-five minutes, my whole story of breaking into the film business as a screenwriter and then moving on to write novels, all the usual, and for the rest of the two-hour class I was just taking questions.

Out of the whole class, only five of the students asked questions, although more did answer when I asked them questions to draw them out. And out of those, only two people voluntarily told me what they were working on, in detail. And those were two out of the…

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I was delighted to read in a Writing Magazine tweet this week that the publisher David Fickling Books – until recently featured on my list of publishers accepting unsolicited manuscripts – is opening its doors to unagented writers for two weeks in May, and it looks like this could be a regular occurrence.

The submissions window is taking the form of a competition called ‘Master of the Inkpot’ (shades of Terry Pratchett or JK Rowling there). Every submission will be read and a shortlist drawn up. The top five will be featured on the website and the winner invited in with a view to publication.

Guidelines for entry are very exact so check and double check the requirements. Picture book submissions should, unusually, include illustrations. Any reading age is considered including adult. And luckily for me, they are happy to reconsider material previously sent if it has been reworked (I’m…

A couple of weeks ago I attended an afternoon discussion forum run by Beth Cox and Alex Strick of Inclusive Minds (www.inclusiveminds.com). Publishers, book sellers, librarians and teachers gathered at 29b Montague Street (home of The Publishers Association) to discuss the thorny issue of diversity and inclusion in children’s books.

Look around you. Our society is hugely diverse and, in my opinion, books for children should reflect the world in which we all live. I’m not just talking about ethnicity – the term ‘diversity’ encompasses race and heritage, disability, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic status, religion, and culture.

The hero in our first title Geronimo, The Dog Who Thinks He’s a Cat was originally called Angus. He was white, middle class and probably lived an idyllic life, in a huge house, in the middle of the country somewhere. I doubt he’d ever seen a black person and…

Seizing the Day and Getting Our Work Out There seemed to me to be the main themes of the above conference held on 27th to 29th March 2015. It was also the year that conference finally and fully embraced going indie as a legitimate and positive choice as a route to publication.

As writers, most of us can also be expert procrastinators. We allow self doubt, the rejection and criticism of others, the difficulties of getting published traditionally, the effort required to self-publish, the muse being away on leave, the dust on the shelves, the ironing in the pile, the worms in the dog – anything – to get in the way of just getting on with the job. We get distracted. We get discouraged. We get lonely. But writers groups, clubs and conferences – online and in…

It’s easy to lament about first drafts. The blank page is one of the hardest things for writers. So let’s take a spin on first drafts and think about the great parts of writing your story the first time around. Because there are a lot! You’ve got a world in your head that demands to see the light of day.

1. Inspiration is still there. No matter where that first draft takes you it’s easier to plug into where the idea came from. It’s like an energy source full of power that you can tap into. You can go back to the originating idea or outline and remember why this story needs to be told.

2. It can still go in different directions. Like an infant, you don’t know what it’s going to be when it grows up and that can be liberating. There are no mistakes because there…

I’m excited to be taking part in Dundee’s Women in Science Festival this month. The festival is all about celebrating and supporting women in science engineering and maths. I’m also off to Dunbar Science Festival this Friday on a similar theme – it’s a science spoken word night to celebrate international women’s day.

I’m doing seven events in total – for schools, families, mothers and other adults too. There’s a science poetry writing workshop and some spoken word and comedy shows. Men are also very welcome!

Here’s a wee summary of what’s coming up with links to get tickets, hope to see you at an event soon!

The Scottish Book Trust Writing Seminars are aimed at writers with an interest in publication; they offer advice from industry experts on various aspects of the process.

This seminar will explain the role of a literary agent and give practical advice for obtaining an agent; the panel will include Lucy Juckes (Literary Agent at Jenny Brown Associates), Alex Bowler (Editorial Director at Jonathan Cape), and Lucy Luck (Literary Agent at Lucy Luck Associates). There will also be opportunity for pre-selected writers to receive feedback on their work.

For more information, and to make a booking, please visit the Scottish Book Trust’s webpage or contact claire.marchant-collier@scottishbooktrust.com.

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On the plus side I have a number of creative writing projects on the go and a very busy writing month ahead. At the end of this month there is the annual Scottish Association of Writers Conference and this will be my third time attending. I come away with a huge buzz and buckets of inspiration, and it’s just fantastic to be in a room full of people that share the same interest. I have entered a couple of the competitions again so fingers crossed that I can repeat last year’s success……

Then the following week I have booked a place up at Moniack Mohr near Inverness for ‘Writing Practice: with the team from the University of Dundee’. I can’t wait! A whole week to devote to writing without any distractions – a bit of an indulgence I know, but I think I deserve it! :) This is billed as an ‘intensive package of practical workshops, discussion, seminars and one on one tutorials’. Think I may need a lie down with a cold cloth when I get back! I am lucky enough to have met Eddie Small and Lindsay Macgregor when they have adjudicated at our writing group in the past, so I already know that it’s going to be very worthwhile.

Speaking of adjudications, my own adjudication of the flash fiction went well last week and it was definitely a valuable exercise on my part. The feedback was positive and, after hours of deliberation, I am pretty confident that I got the placings right in the end.

On the not so plus side however, this is the first month since starting the blog where there have been no entries for the mini writing competition. As such I feel it is time to take stock and re-evaluate this side of the blog as, sadly, things do seem to have stalled a little recently. I will therefore be taking a break from the official monthly writing prompts, although I would still be happy to post on behalf of other writers and to share work from all the lovely contacts I have made through this process, as I still strongly believe in the spirit of co-operation and mutual support between the online writing community. I will also continue to post any useful writing tips I come across and any other valuable advice.

In the meantime I would like to say a big thank you to all those contributors to my monthly writing prompts over the past (almost) two years and I look forward to continuing our on-going online relationships through other avenues for the time being. Wishing you all the very best in your own writing/creative exploits and I will enjoy reading your blogs as usual.

I have just spent a relaxing few days in Crieff Hydro over half term break and have used the time to finish off adjudications that I am doing for the Angus Writers’ Circle flash fiction competition. I have never adjudicated a competition before and I was a little hesitant to take it on at first as I wondered whether I was qualified enough to do it. However, I am now very glad that I agreed to it as I have found the exercise to be quite an eye opener into just how involved and subjective these type of processes are, and I have also learnt a lot about what I like and don’t like quite so much in terms of writing style, which I’m sure I can also apply to my own writing.

Having entered a fair few writing competitions myself over the past couple of years, whether it be for the Scottish Association of Writers’ Annual Conference, or ones with my writing group, I have heard a lot of adjudicators say that it was difficult to come up with a final 3 (or 4 or 5) and that their top entries moved around a lot before they finally decided on the outcome. Part of me used to just think that they were simply being polite/encouraging/motivational etc., however I can now totally see where they were coming from! I have chosen a first, second and third place, with one highly commended and one commended entry and I think I am now fairly sure which entries will be in my top 5, but even now they are still moving around and it is very difficult to make a final decision and to just stick to it.

I read them when I first received them just before Christmas and have re-read them all a number of times since then. I thought I had eventually cracked it, but then when I started to type up my comments for the various entries it made me look at them again in even closer detail (not just as a reader, but also as a writer), and things changed yet again. It is also fair to say that most of the entries had something I liked, even if there were other parts of them that I was not quite so keen on, so the next time I am on the other side of an adjudication, I will have a far greater appreciation of just what is involved.

As for the outcome, I am due to give my verdicts this coming Wednesday and just hope that I will make the right choices. However I think I feel more exposed than those who entered the competition in the first place! :)